Bernard Schoenburg: Governor just not much for contact with state workers

Thursday

Jun 26, 2008 at 12:01 AMJun 26, 2008 at 10:24 AM

Appearances can mean a lot. Certainly Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH knows that, or he wouldn’t have a history of getting state-paid TV cameras to focus on him when it helps his cause, whatever that is at the time.

Bernard Schoenburg

Appearances can mean a lot. Certainly Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH knows that, or he wouldn’t have a history of getting state-paid TV cameras to focus on him when it helps his cause, whatever that is at the time.

I thought about the lack of an appearance this week during the rally in Springfield put on by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31 — the union that represents about 35,000 state employees.

AFSCME has been negotiating with the state for a new contract to replace a four-year document written to expire next week. The 4,000 to 5,000 people who showed up — mostly AFSCME members and some of their families — listened to speeches and marched from outside the Statehouse to the Hilton Springfield, where a negotiating session was to go on. They bused people in and put on a good show of force.
AFSCME announced Wednesday some progress has been made, but with differences still there, they requested a mediator, and the parties agreed to extend the contract past June 30.

The rhetoric at Monday’s rally was strong about the need not to backslide on benefits, even as I know some people think state employees have better jobs than many. But one AFSCME official who is always good for a firebrand speech, ROBERTA LYNCH, deputy director of Council 31, didn’t disappoint, and painted a pretty good picture.
And in arguing against higher health-care and retirement costs for AFSCME members, Lynch said she was “sick and tired of hearing the business community say we have generous benefits.”

“Is health care with significant deductibles and co-pays that we already pay as much as $300 a month for … too generous?” she asked.

“The governor seems to be listening to the rich people in the corporate class, not the folks on the front line. Maybe the governor needs to get out more, and I don’t mean to a Cubs game,” Lynch said. “Maybe he needs to get out to state workplaces.

“They say ‘Walk a mile in our shoes.’ Governor, you don’t need to walk a mile. Walk a couple hundred feet. Walk through a prison that’s overcrowded and understaffed. Walk through a vets’ home, taking care of sick and ailing veterans. Go out with a DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) worker and see how hard it is to protect abused children. Walk in our shoes, governor.”

After that point, she argued against those who say such workers should pay a lot more for pensions and health insurance.

“Governor,” she said, “you know what? We gave at the office. We gave at the prisons. We gave at the state parks. We gave at the veterans’ home. Governor, we already gave.”

Her comments about Blagojevich making appearances at state facilities struck a theme I have noticed since early in his tenure — he doesn’t seem to seek real contact with front-line workers. He’ll sign autographs for admirers, but if it’s not election time, he’s not in a listening mood when it comes to his rank-and-file employees.

I wrote in 2004 that after being in office for nearly two years, he had never been to a prison or mental health center. I mentioned it again just over a year ago, after I read a book about the habit of late Gov. HENRY HORNER to stop by state facilities many Sundays to see what was going on.

As we know, Blagojevich can hardly find Springfield, making only sporadic trips to the Capitol even in the heat of legislative sessions. And as a WBBM-TV report in Chicago told last fall, he is often absent from his Thompson Center office even when he’s in his home city.

I asked this week if any prison or mental health center visits had taken place.

“This past Friday, the governor walked through a portion of the Alton Mental Health Center before a news conference that was held outside that facility, regarding Mississippi River flooding,” spokesman BRIAN WILLIAMSEN said.

It doesn’t seem as if he got the flavor of the place, but I’ll quit saying he’s never been to a mental health center.

Oddly, he got some good reviews for going to flood scenes. Just being there can help. But he doesn’t seem to act that way when certain state facilities are involved.
While lots of state jobs are dangerous, those in prisons probably top the list. The governor’s office, in announcing his possible budget cuts this week if the House doesn’t act to pass revenue bills, raised the specter of “significant reductions in staffing throughout state government at agencies such as Department of Natural Resources, Department of Human Services, Department of Corrections. …”

But when you hear stories about prison guards being forced to take a second shift under mandatory overtime — stories AFSCME members have told in recent months — you wonder how they can get by with even fewer personnel.

I got to ask Deputy Gov. BOB GREENLEE about this in a conference call Wednesday with The State Journal-Register editorial writers.

“Obviously, we’re going to make sure when we make staffing adjustments that we’re not going to put either employees at prisons or prisoners … in jeopardy,” Greenlee said.

GINGER OSTRO, director of the governor’s office of management and budget, who was also in on the call, was asked if there would be layoffs. She replied, “I think we really have to look at the impact of it, but I believe it would be primarily unfilled positions, attrition, hiring that wouldn’t take place.”

None of this gets Blagojevich to visit his employees at a state prison — something I have said I hope doesn’t first happen when there’s a crisis.

But as for that Sunday drop-by out of camera range, I’m not holding my breath.

Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.

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